Credit: Luna et al.
An extensive review of cephalopod fauna from the Northwest African Atlantic coast was performed by researchers from the University of Vigo (Spain) and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO). The study was based on the collections gathered in 1,247 bottom trawl stations carried out during ten multidisciplinary surveys in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME).
The surveys were conducted by the IEO and the FAO in the framework of their EAF-Nansen and CCLME projects along the continental shelf and slope off Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and Cabo Verde, between 2004 and 2012. In all these surveys, the EcoAfrik research team (UVIGO-IEO) led the development of a program focused on benthos intensive sampling. During these surveys a huge amount of quantitative biological data, environmental parameters of the water column and seabed, and important collections of benthic invertebrates were obtained.